


White Rabbit

by Redex



Category: The Long Walk - Richard Bachman
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 16:38:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17707865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redex/pseuds/Redex
Summary: The last one standing.Garraty saw Stebbins shuffling up ahead in the rain, almost robotically. The white rabbit. McVries was gone; it had been his last sense of hope that had gone with him. What was the point of things now?But he had gotten under Stebbins’s skin, almost pried the lid right off.





	White Rabbit

The last one standing.

Garraty saw Stebbins shuffling up ahead in the rain, almost robotically. The white rabbit. McVries was gone; it had been his last sense of hope that had gone with him. What was the point of things now? 

But he had gotten under Stebbins’s skin, almost pried the lid right off. He looked ahead again, saw Stebbins with his shoulders hunched, dragging his defeated form ever onward. Never stopping. Ahead of him at last.

_If I could just catch…_

He thought back to old conversations, Stebbins peering at him through the sunlight, squinting from the brightness. Stebbins had made him uneasy then. He made Garraty uneasy now. Suddenly a rush of urgency surged through him. To win? To outpace the form ahead of him? No. He had to know. He had to _know._

The rain nearly blinded him as he reached forward, arm outstretched, feet pulling. His fingers grazed the shirt of the boy in front of him. When he reached the withered shoulder, it crumpled to dust in his hand. _No, not you too, not…damnit…_

But Stebbins kept walking. He wouldn’t turn to meet the hard gaze, the panting desperation behind him. They kept on, Garraty struggling to maintain the hold on the soaked workshirt clinging to Stebbins’s wisp of a shoulder. The white rabbit. Leading him, leading him somewhere. 

Up ahead he saw blaring lights, overhead lights from the sports stadium that the road had become. The lights bothered him. He squeezed his eyes shut, led only by the contact, but the lights followed behind his eyelids. When he opened them again, the boy broke from his grasp, running just out of reach. Without thinking he tore after Stebbins, calling out into the rain. The lights were blinding.

He heard a ringing laughter in his ears. _Catch me if you can, Garraty!_

He sped up.

Dimly, he was aware of the bodies slumped behind him on the road, collapsed heaps in the rain. But his feet felt lighter and he ran towards those blaring stadium lights, the white rabbit up ahead, just a little further…

Stebbins’s shirt seemed to flow behind him like a dovetail as they tore through the path. Garraty was reminded of those greyhounds again, feeling like a hungry old dog chasing its prey, but the drive wouldn’t leave him. Stebbins ran; he followed.

The bright lights swirled and mixed with red. Up ahead he saw Stebbins grinning at him, a thick white grin cutting through the darkness like…

_He couldn’t give up now._

Muscular forms seem to restrain him from nowhere and his arms thrashed against them. The ground pressed into him cold and hard. He moaned, wiping the blood from his eyes, the lights a searing pain now. An ache pounded at the back of his head.

Ahead of him the rabbit retreated into the light, a mere shadow now. Garraty cried out. His hands clawed at the arms that were holding him down and he propelled himself back onto his raw feet, his head swimming, blood filling his vision. Those blinding lights.

He left his feet behind him, left his aches and weight behind. With each step he seemed lighter until he was sure he was flying, feet not even touching the ground. Stebbins was smirking in the distance. At least, he thought it was Stebbins.

Suddenly he found himself in slick wet grass, cool against his bare skin. It was daylight, the sky stretching blue overhead. How far had he ran? He didn’t care. Where were the others? Where was McVries, where was Baker? Shouldn’t they be here? He looked around. Nothing but grassy hills, a pleasant breeze on his face.

When he turned around again, he startled to find Stebbins peering at him, calm and poised like a cat.

 _Isn’t this what you were looking for?_ he seemed to ask, his face young and boyish again.

 _You?_ Garraty thought. Why not McVries? Why not Jan, or…

Stebbins smiled back at him knowingly, an irritating smile that had driven Garraty crazy so many times before. _C’mon Garraty. Let’s have some fun._

It seemed to Garraty that he was hearing the words, and yet, there was no sound. “Fun…” he formed his mouth around the word, and it took entirely too much effort. Stebbins was goading him. It gave him a sick feeling. 

_Yeah, c’mon. Don’t you want to see what’s inside?_

Garraty turned, looking for any of the other boys to distract him, as they had on the Walk. But it was just him, just him and Stebbins, just this uncomfortable sensation. He had an overwhelming urge to shove Stebbins, _hard._ Get the boy away from him.

When his hands made contact with Stebbins’s shirt, it surprised him to see his fingers grasping and pulling, drawing him closer instead of pushing him away. He hated what he was doing. But his body seemed to move outside of his control, like a puppet. Like Stebbins’s puppet. Stebbins was grinning.

Their mouths were close together, Stebbins’s a knowing smirk, Garraty’s a hard scowl. His heart was pounding, exhilarated. He had caught the rabbit at last. And what was inside? He wanted to pull the stuffing out, rip off the plastic eyes, undo the seams…

But the slender form slinked from his grasp, and he stood panting, blood rushing, anticipation gnawing at him. He shuddered. A raw, primeval feeling seemed to push through his veins as he felt a hand pass against his lower back. Assessing him. 

_Damnit, Stebbins,_ he thought.

He felt the smirk before he saw it, felt Stebbins grinning at the power he had. Hungry dogs out for the chase. And here was the rabbit, always ahead of them, always just out of reach…

That raw feeling ripped through Garraty again as it had when he had kissed that girl at the beginning of the Walk, watched Gribble thrusting against…ugh…his face felt hot. Stebbins was unraveling him. He couldn’t let that happen.

 _But you were thinking it…thinking of me, weren’t you?_ Stebbins appeared before him, a hand posed carefully at Garraty’s elbow. 

“S…stop it,” Garraty said thickly. But it was no use. His body was at someone else’s command now. 

_When McVries asked you if you’d let him jerk you off…you were going to let him do it, weren’t you?_ Stebbins’s hands were working at the fastening of Garraty’s belt, sliding the zipper down…

Garraty felt humiliated. He watched his pants fall to the ground, watched thin white fingers pull at his underwear. The rabbit was tearing into _him,_ undoing _him_ when it should have been the other way around…

He groaned despite himself, wishing desperately that Stebbins weren’t there to see his reaction. He covered his face.

 _It’s no use, Garraty,_ he heard in his ear. Stebbins seemed to envelope him somehow, as if he were occupying all of space at once. 

Garraty stood, quivering, his pants around his ankles, thinking of McVries and the other boys. Would he have let him do it? _Would he have…_

A hot, wet surge broke his thoughts. 

He wanted Stebbins. He didn’t like the boy. Hated him, even. But in that moment, he needed him. That was all there was. Was he dead? He didn’t care. It didn’t matter. He groaned and thrust into the mouth of the boy in front of him. Stebbins pulled back, frowning.

 _Where are your manners, young man,_ he scolded teasingly, like an old teacher. Garraty let out a growl of frustration.

 _Why don’t you just—_ he spat in his thoughts, but Stebbins was already retreating, the wetness of his mouth the only thing left behind. The pause lasted for several painful minutes, the cool breeze drifting across Garraty’s exposed skin…

_Tell me about Pete, tell me how much you wanted him. Tell me—_

He felt the voice inside him now, rhythmic like the boy’s now harried movements. He hated Stebbins. Garraty grabbed his blond hair and thrust into his mouth, all hesitation aside. Stebbins made a gasping sound but didn’t stop. It was power. The rabbit was unraveling himself. He could see it in the shaking hands that clutched his hips, his thighs. He thrust harder. It was all he needed, all he’d need to see the boy weakening before him, letting him inside, letting him break through at last.

Stebbins groaned and the sound of it rushed through Garraty. He was done, it was over, he couldn’t contain himself any longer. His fingers laced and yanked at the boy’s hair and he let himself flood into Stebbins’s yearning mouth. A sense of finality settled in his bones. He didn’t release his grip on Stebbins’s hair, savoring the intensity pouring through him, the wet panting at his groin. He looked up.

In the sky above him he thought he saw Jan’s face, a gentle form, her hair mingling in the clouds. Her voice, softly calling…

He felt hot, and he felt wet, but this wet was thick and sticky now, pooling in his throat. The cold ground was harsh beneath him. He felt hands probing, not Stebbins, there were too many of them. Blinding lights. A firm pumping on his chest. The Major, impenetrable, peering at him some distance off. 

“Congratulations, Garraty,” he heard through the haze. 

He wasn’t dead after all.


End file.
